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Kristi's Story
I have truly enjoyed helping people overcome life’s challenges and restore balance in their lives. I was fortunate to have a wonderful education experience at one of the top counseling schools in the nation. I received my Masters degree in Marriage and Family Counseling from the University of Central Florida in 2009. In addition, I hold a certificate in Play Therapy as I focus my services to meet the needs of children and adolescents. During graduate school I received specialized training for counseling individuals, families, and couples. I am certified as a PAIRS Relationship Education Instructor and trained in various forms of relationship therapy as well as a member of various professional counseling organizations including the American Association of Christian Counselors. I have had the opportunity to work at a variety of different settings since graduating and becoming licensed. My internship experience was at a sexual abuse recovery center, I worked with children, adolescents, adults, and families recovering from sexual trauma. Through this experience I had the opportunity to work with parents and I enjoyed helping parents and children cope together through past hurts and trauma. I have also had the opportunity to work at an inpatient residential facility for adolescents. Through this work, I gained knowledge and expertise in working with families and adolescents in crisis situations including suicidal thoughts, major depression, self-harming, eating issues, drug use, trauma, and brief psychotic episodes. In Orlando while creating a successful private practice, I also contracted my services with a Christian private schools helping students through peer pressure, family changes, self-esteem issues, spiritual issues, relationship problems and college/career prep.
After marrying the love of my life and moving to beautiful Virginia in the beginning of 2012, it has been a pleasure to serve the Northern Virginia community and help you and your family restore balance, peace, and love. Our practice has grown in specialties and has been fortunate to make many additional counselors now on staff. One of my passions is mentoring and guiding the next generation of Christian counselors. I am currently an instructor at Park Valley College and direct the lay helping program, teaching reenergizes me and I enjoy learning from my students. In my free time, I enjoy playing and learning from my two active sons, creative activities, building and remodeling furniture, reading, hiking, canoeing, dance workouts, cooking, being a dog lover, and game nights with family and friends.
After my graduation I was inspired to start a non-profit counseling program in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya. I traveled to Kenya for five weeks in June 2009 and worked with counselors, mentors, and teachers to teach the basic counseling skills necessary to work with at-risk children. This experience increased my faith and gave me experience in working with trauma, depression, attachment disorder, anxiety, chemical dependency, and multicultural counseling in severely neglected youth.